Refrigerator.



' PATENTED 007?. 25, 1904. 13. s. HEMMENWAY.

REFRIGERATOR. v APPLICATION FILED JULY 11,1903. RENEWED AIIG.29.1904.

NO MODE L.

7 UNITED STATES Patented October 25, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

EUGENE S. HEMMENVVAY, OF CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO'L. G. WALDRON, ,OF AUBURN, NEW YORK.

REFRIGERATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 772,937, dated October 25, 1904:. Application filed July 11, 1903. Renewed August 29, 1904. Serial No. 222,574. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EUGENE S. HEMMENWAY, of Chelsea, in the county of Suffolk andState of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerators, of

which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object to utilize the water. produced by the melting of ice in a refrigerator as a means for additionally cooling or absorbing the heat from the storagechamber of the refrigerator to the end that the waste which usually attends the discharge of the water formed by the meltingof the ice in a refrigerator may be avoided or reduced to the minimum.

The invention consists as a whole in a refrigerator provided with'a tank or reservoir arranged to receive the ice -water which is formed in the ice-storage compartment of the refrigerator and also arranged to present a considerable area of heat-absorbing surface to the air in the preserving chamber or portion of the refrigerator, thesaid tank or reservoir having an outlet through which the water is ultimately discharged.

The invention also consists in certain and incidental improvements, all of which I will now proceed to describe and claim.

' Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a refrigerator embodying my invention, the front of the refrigerator being removed and shown in section.

Fig. 2 represents a perspective sectional view of the water-tank shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 represents a section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

In the drawings, a represents the casing of a refrigerator, which may be of any suitable form and is here shown as provided in its upper portion with an ice-storage chamber Q'and below the latter with a provision storage chamber 3, the usual or any suitable arrangement being adopted to insure a circulation of air through the refrigerator.

In carrying out my invention I provide one or more tanks 6 for the reception of the water formed by the melting of the ice in the compartment or chamber 2, the said tank being extended to present relatively large area or external surface'and arranged in such relation to the storage or chamber compartment 3 of the refrigerator as to cause its walls when filled with the cold water from the melting ice to absorb heat from the chamber 3. As shown in Fig. 1, the tank Z) has an inlet 5, which receives the ice-water from the chamber 2 through the drip-pipe 22 of the latter, and an outlet 6, through which the water e'scapes from the tank I) to a waste receptacle or conduit. When the tank 6 is vertically arranged, as shown in Fig. 1, it is preferably located at the rear portion of the storagechamber 3, although its back may be separated from the back of the refrigerator-casing by a narrow air-space to permit a free circulation of air along the back side as well as along the front side of the tank 6. The outlet-pipe 6 preferably extends upwardly into the tank 6 to a point near the top of said tank, so that the accumulation of water in the tank is equal to the height to which the pipe 6 projects above the bottom of the tank, the water overflowing from the tank through the upper end of the pipe 6. Provision is thus made t water which rises and ultimately escapesthrough the outlet or standpipe 6. The inletpipe 5 may be out of alinement with the standpipe 6 to prevent the water from dropping from the inlet-pipe directly into the standpipe, or, if desired, a deflector 7 may be interposed between the inlet-pipe 5 and the outlet-pipe 6. The tank may also be provided with a vertical semipartition 8, which is separated from the bottom of the tank by a space 9, the said partition 8 subdividing the tank into two general compartments into one of which the water flows from the inlet 5. The water flowing into this compartment passes under the partition 8 into the other compartmentinto which the outlet-pipe 6 is located.

The inlet-pipe 5 may be vertically adjustable .in the upper portion of the tank 6, the said inlet-pipe being preferably telescopically connected with a fixed pipe-section 10 in the top or cover of the tank I). This arrangement enables the pipe 5 to be adjusted up and down according to the height of the chamber 3 or to be removed and replaced by another pipe of different length.

The tank 6 may be provided with legs or supports 12 12 to raise its bottom above the bottom of the chamber 3, and thus enable the bottom of the tank 7) to be utilized as a heatabsorbing surface.

Fig. 3 shows the preferred horizontal section of the tank 6, (shown in Figs. 1 and 2,) the vertical sides of the tank and the semipartition 8 being all formed in one piece of sheet metal, the ends of which are soldered at 12 12.

Having thus explained the nature of the invention and described a way of constructing and using the same, although without attempting to set forth all of the forms in which it may be used or all of the modes of its use, I declare that what 1 claim is- 1. A refrigerator having an ice-compartment provided with a drip-pipe, a storagechamber below it and having an outlet-pipe through its bottom, and a removable tank Within the storage-chamber, said tank having a removable cover provided with an inlet adapted to receive ice-water from said drippipe, said cover having a deflector extending under the inlet-pipe and the tank being provided with a vertical semipartition under the said deflector, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. A refrigerator having an ice-con'ipartment provided with a drip-pipe, a storagechamber below it and having an outlet-pipe through its bottom, and a vertically-arranged removable tank within the storage-chamber and having legs whereby the bottom of the tank is supported above the door of the said chamber, said tank having a vertical semipartition, and a removable cover provided with an inlet, means being provided for directing water from said inlet to the tank at one side of the partition, and an outlet from the tank at the other side of said partition.

In testimony whereof I have allixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

Vitnesses:

G. F. BROWN, 1. \V. P nzzn'rtri. 

